2023 Liberian Chess Championship – David Debblay & Georgina Sackie win
David Leroy Debblay and Georgiana Sackie emerged victorious in the Open and Ladies sections in the hotly contested 2023 Liberian Chess Championship.
Open Championship
The Open Championship was a closed 20-player Swiss tournament with 11 rounds. David Leroy Debblay emerged as the sole event winner, scoring 9 points. He was half a point ahead of Saah Thomas and FM Harmon Barcon, who tied for second place with 8.5 points each. Saah Obediah came fourth with 8 points.
Bobby Ballah the defending Champion had a disappointing run to end up with 5.5 points and 11th in the ranking.
Ladies Championship
Georgina Sackie, on the other hand, won the Ladies Championship after tying for first place with Abigail Karyah. The players scored the same 9/10 points, but Georgina Sackie won the rapid playoffs to clinch her maiden title. Princess Banney came third with 6 points.
Event format
The Liberian Chess Championship 2023 ran from 14th to 27th January 2024 with three categories; The Men’s Section, The Women’s Section and The Youth Section.
The Men’s Section is an 11-round closed tournament with 20 participants (the current National Champion Bobby Ballah) and the best 19 players from the Qualifier held in December 2023.
The winner in the Men’s Section & Women’s Section will be the 2023 National Chess Champion of Liberia, and all of the top 5 finishers in both section represent Liberia at the 45th World Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary, in September 2024.
The Time Control is 90 minutes for the game plus 30 minutes after move 40 with 30 seconds increment from move 1.
The other sections are the Women Section and Youth Section. The women are playing a 7-player double round-robin tournament of 14 rounds while the youths are playing the regular rounds with shorter time controls.
The event venue is the prestigious Sinkor Palace, Congo Town, Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.
Event photos & poster
Links for the Games
Men’s Section games on www. lichess.org.
Women’s Section games on www.lichess.org.
Youth Section games on www.lichess.org.
Past Champions of Liberia
2022 – Bobby Ballah
2021 – Bobby Ballah
2019 – Thomas Saah
2018 – James Tondo
2016 – Barcon Harmon
Interesting facts about Liberia
Liberia began as a settlement of the American Colonisation Society, who believed black people would face better chances for freedom and prosperity in Africa than in the United States.
The country declared its independence on 26th July 1847.
Liberia is the only African republic to have self-proclaimed independence without gaining independence from any other power. It is also Africa’s first and oldest modern republic.
Liberia has more ships registered under a flag of convenience than any other country except Panama.
About 12 per cent of the world’s ships fly the flag of Liberia.
Monrovia is the capital city of Liberia.
Christianopolis was the capital city of Liberia. The name changed later to Monrovia after James Monroe, a former president of the United States.
Links
Bobby Ballah wins the 2022 Liberian Chess Championship.
2022 Liberian Chess Championship on chess-results.com.
PGNs from the 2022 Liberian Chess Championship Open Section.
PGNs from the 2022 Liberian Chess Championship Ladies Section.
Bobby Ballah crowned 2021 Liberia National Chess Champion.
2021 Liberian National Chess Championship on chess-results.com.
Thomas Saah is crowned 2019 Liberia National Chess Champion.
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Article by Kenya Chess Masala.
